Flying High
by thunderbird5
Summary: War makes brutes of men and the women and children have to pay; it's really unfair, but who said war was fair anyway.


**Disclaimer:** How I wish the boys were mine. But no, they belong to someone else.

Thanks to my unknown beta for fixing this up for me.

This story is for my first beta Darkflame's Pyre. I just had to write something with poor old Scotty in it. So now he's telling his story just for you Pyre.

I can't believe what I'm seeing, people killing each other and for what? Innocent families are paying for something they haven't even done. I've been sent out here to help those in need, not to kill. Looking at all the destruction before me, I just want to cry with those families whose lives got destroyed by bombs, missiles, bullets and fiery projectiles.

As I fly over a once beautiful, peaceful town, I catch sight of a young girl running for dear life with her baby sister held tightly in her arms. I cry out when I see her taken down. I turn my jet to see how she is: she is dead, I realize, shot down for no reason. War makes brutes of men and the women and children have to pay; it's really unfair, but who said war was fair anyway.

Pointing my jet to the sky, I push it to its limits. I just have to get away from there; I am on my way to base. "Why did my flight path have to go over that town? Why did I turn around to look for those two little girls? I know that the world can be very cruel sometimes, but why those two little girls?" I wonder.

I land safely and I immediately go to my room without greeting my buddies. I can still see their faces: so scared and alone. Why did they, and many like them have to die; surely they have nothing to do with this. I lie on my bed, trying to block those terrible images.

When I finally fall asleep, I dream that I'm flying away from this planet of fools. I am as free as a bird, high up in the sky with nothing to stop me.

It is the next day and I have a group of people who I have to drop off in the town where I saw those two little ones get killed. I'm sure I'll never see most of them ever again, it feels like I'm taking these people to deaths door, never to return. I know that life is hard to bear at times, but this is much worse than the bad times my brothers and I had faced.

I wish that I am not here in this war, not here to see all the destruction around me or hear the screams of the dead and dying. "How can humans do this to the innocents who have absolutely nothing to do with it?" I think as I lift off again.

I have a new and better destination. I'm going Home just for a few days to see how my family is doing. I've missed them so, so much.

As I fly high up into the blue sky, I feel exhilarated. It is the ultimate emotion, I rise and dive. I feel so free, like a seagull and as proud as an eagle, I'm alive.

"Wish I could be a bird flying high up into the heavens, that's where I would like to be." I think as I head back to base.

I'm spending the day with my four brothers in a beautiful park. It's a truly beautiful day. I feel so peaceful when my youngest brother, Alan, asks me an unexpected question, which I hoped he wouldn't ask. "Scotty, are you scared when you are out there?"

I reach out my hand to ruffle his hare. It's such an innocent question and yet, I'm terrified of answering it. I guess that they have to know, just in case I don't come home again.

"Sometimes I'm tired and scared, Alan. That's when I wish that I'm here with you all, that we never grow up and just stay the little kids we were. There's nothing more frightening than a war, not knowing if I'm going to be shot down next. At times I wish that I could just fly off to a land, God knows where, but as long as it's anywhere I end up flying."

All too soon, I have to go back. This time it is my last mission. I'll be resigning after all of this. I have found something better to do with my life; I have been given the opportunity to save lives instead of flying by and watching people die.

The mission is finally over and I'm heading home to a new way of living. A new start where I can put all the horrors behind me. I finally have the time to let go. I'm flying home alone, peacefully gliding, no more running, and no more hiding and playing chicken.

I'm almost home. I let my hand guide the jet. I feel so careless, like a bird up in the sky. As free as a seagull and as proud as an eagle.

Landing the jet and getting my things together isn't happening fast enough for my brothers. I can hear them pound away on the door, begging me to open it for them. I can hear yelping and yelling as they fight over who is going to be the first one to get to me. I open the door to find a huge mass of limbs as four bodies come crashing through the door, faster than a freight train. They are silent and I feel the regrets welling up in me.

Just as fast as they crashed through the doorframe, they are up again, crushing me from all sides. I don't care anymore, I can't help thinking of those two little girls who's families would never see them again – that is, if they are still alive themselves. I have a family who missed me and whom I've missed so much. So I let them hug me as tight as they wish. I'm home and I'm not going away from them ever again.


End file.
